by Simplar | Jul 30, 2026 | Financial Management and Risk, Financial Management and Risk, Project Selection, Project Selection, Risk Management, Risk Management, Weekly Construction Message
Vacation schedules have interrupted our strategic planning series, so we are repeating an important message on risk. If risk recognition and assessment is so fundamental to the construction transaction, why do so few contractors engage in formal risk management? As I...
by Simplar | Jul 23, 2026 | Business, Strategic & Project Planning, Financial Management and Risk, Financial Management and Risk, Growth, Leadership, Risk Management, Weekly Construction Message
“If you don’t know where you’re going – you’re probably not going to get there.” I quote this ancient Chinese proverb every time I talk about strategic planning. The contracting business does not lend itself to long-term planning....
by Simplar | Jul 16, 2026 | Business of Construction, Business, Strategic and Project Planning, Leadership, Leadership, Organizational Change Management, Succession Planning, Succession Planning, Weekly Construction Message
In my long career as a contractor to a consultant, I have had the good fortune to work with young people who had recently inherited a construction business. Most of these young men and women were already working in the family firm in a middle management or executive...
by Simplar | Jul 10, 2026 | Business Development, Business, Strategic and Project Planning, Financial Management and Risk, Financial Management and Risk, Leadership, Leadership, Risk Management, Weekly Construction Message
Warren Buffet was a businessman. He never drove a train, wrote an insurance policy, built an office tower, or miniaturized a computer. He strictly analyzed an existing business’s ability to make a profit over an extended period and invested an appropriate...
by Simplar | Jul 2, 2026 | Financial Management and Risk, Financial Management and Risk, Risk Management, Weekly Construction Message
The unique complex nature of the construction financial transaction cannot be overstated. I make this point repeatedly because my experience working with contractors is they do not see the complexity of the business of contracting the same way I do. The unfortunate...
by Simplar | Jun 18, 2026 | Business, Strategic & Project Planning, Cash Flow (Getting Paid), Financial Management and Risk, Financial Management and Risk, Weekly Construction Message
Managing a day-to-day construction business using the three traditional financial statements alone leaves an important financial metric (Cash Flow) difficult to determine accurately on a real time basis. Using the percentage of completion accounting method results in...
